In certain network environments, such as Internet cafes, corporate settings, etc., all client systems are required to be loaded with an identical set of system programs (e.g., operating system and drivers) and software applications to provide a uniform environment for all the client computers. System provisioning is the process of installing the identical set of system and application programs on all the client computers to implement the uniform environment. System provisioning may be accomplished by first installing system components (e.g., the operating system, drivers, etc.) and the necessary applications onto a “golden computer”. An image may then be taken of the golden computer storage having the installed programs. The identical image from the golden computer may then be loaded onto the local storage devices of the client computers as part of the system provisioning. The copending and commonly assigned patent application titled “Apparatus and Method For Incremental Package Deployment, having U.S. application Ser. No. 11/027,870 and filed Dec. 29, 2004, provides a technique for providing an installation of additional applications on the golden computer to the client computers in an incremental package.
One issue in implementing a uniform computing environment is the ever increasing size of application programs, which requires that the client computers provide sufficient storage space to store such large programs. Certain uniform environments, such as Internet cafes where users are provided access to numerous large computer video game programs and organizations that require access to many large business application programs, require that each client computer includes a substantial amount of storage to store the numerous large applications. Adding sufficient storage space to each of the client computers in such a uniform environment can be costly and substantially raise the cost per client machine and the cost to service the client storage devices.